Page:Massage & exercises combined (second version).djvu/89

 Being similar to the movement just completed, only one figure is shown here.)

Now, place the left hand, with the right on top of it, again on the side of the right hip, but this time about four inches higher up, so that the thumb is just above the crest of the ilium, or hip bone (Fig. 10 E). Stroke from there, with the left hand, inward and upward underneath the border of the ribs as far as the sternum (the bone in the middle of the chest). The palm of the hand, which of course precedes the fingers, moves at first slightly transversely (Fig. 10 F). The inner side of the ends of the fingers are pressed in under the ribs with the help of the right hand until they reach the sternum or where the ribs are slanting downwards to the left side (Fig. 10 G).

Stroke now, with the right hand, the left pressing on top of it, from the side of the left hip, with the thumb just above the hip bone, inward and upward underneath the false ribs, that is, in the same way as was done with the left hand from the right side. (Fig. 10 H. Here, likewise, only one figure is shown.)

Thus, first stroke once from each opposite side across the lower abdomen, then once from each opposite side inward and upward under the ribs. The exercise has been executed once.

Five times will take about forty seconds.

The trunk should be kept in an upright position and not bent to the right, left or backwards. The abdominal muscles should be relaxed so that the stomach and bowels are neither distended nor contracted, but are held naturally.

The movements can, of course, also be done with one hand, but because pressure should be fairly strong (especially in stout people) to influence the digestive and abdominal organs and the nerve-centers properly, it is best to